No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2023
An individual’s birthweight, a marker of in utero exposures, was recently associated with certain psychiatric conditions. However, studies investigating the relationship between an individual’s preterm birth status and/or birthweight and risk for depression during adulthood are sparse; we used data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) to investigate these potential associations. At study entry, 86,925 postmenopausal women reported their birthweight by category (<6 lbs., 6–7 lbs. 15 oz., 8–9 lbs. 15 oz., or ≥10 lbs.) and their preterm birth status (full-term or ≥4 weeks premature). Women also completed the Burnham screen for depression and were asked to self-report if: (a) they had ever been diagnosed with depression, or (b) if they were taking antidepressant medications. Linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted effect estimates. Compared to those born weighing between 6 and 7 lbs. 15 oz., individuals born weighing <6 lbs. (βadj = 0.007, P < 0.0001) and ≥10 lbs. (βadj = 0.006, P = 0.02) had significantly higher Burnam scores. Individuals born weighing <6 lbs. were also more likely to have depression (adjOR 1.21, 95% CI 1.11–1.31). Individuals born preterm were also more likely to have depression (adjOR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02–1.35); while attenuated, this association remained in analyses limited to only those reportedly born weighing <6 lbs. Our research supports the role of early life exposures on health risks across the life course. Individuals born at low or high birthweights and those born preterm may benefit from early evaluation and long-term follow-up for the prevention and treatment of mental health outcomes.
Rahalkar and Holman-Vittone are contributed equally to this project.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.